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Brazil has selected Walter Salles’ well-received comeback feature I’m Still Here to represent it in the Best International Feature Film at the 97th Academy Awards.

The picture stars Fernanda Torres as the real-life figure of Eunice Paiva, whose husband Rubens Paiva disappeared in the early years of the 1964-1985 Brazilian military dictatorship.

Torres’ mother Fernanda Montenegro, who is considered one of the greatest Brazilian actresses of all time, also briefly shares the Eunice Paiva role, appearing as the protagonist in her final years. They are joined in the cast by Selton Mello as Rubens Paiva.

Related: Best International Feature Film Oscar Winners Through The Years: Photo Gallery

The project also reunites Salles with his regular collaborator, the director Daniela Thomas, who takes an artistic producer credit.

The picture enjoyed a buzzy world premiere in Venice in Competition, receiving a 10-minute ovation and going on to win Best Screenplay for Heitor Lorega and Murilo Hauser.

On Wednesday evening, Liberatum hosted its Women in Creativity gala in conjunction with the 81st Venice International Film Festival. Oscar, Emmy and Tony-winning actress Ellen Burstyn was honored with the Liberatum Pioneer Award for her work in cinema and for advancing society forward in movements like women’s liberation in Hollywood.

In attendance were Bones and All actress Taylor Russell, who starred with Burstyn in the 2023 film Mother, Couch; Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Debra Granik, who is known for her 2004 film Down to the Bone; Dr. Aaron Roni Neumark who dedicates his time to preserving fine historic artwork; as well as Missoni president Angela Missoni, art historian Diana Picasso, Syrian film director Soudade Kaadan, Brazilian actress Barbara Paz, Germany filmmaker Julia Heinz and Italian architect Francesco da Mosto.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter after the gala, Burstyn said, “First of all, Venice has got to be the most beautiful city in...

Willem Dafoe, who stars in Tim Burton’s fest opener “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” along with jury members Kleber Mendonça Filho (“Bacurau”) and Giuseppe Tornatore (“Cinema Paradiso”) turned up at the annual Venice Film Festival’s pre-opening party on the rooftop of the Danieli Hotel on Tuesday night.

Co-hosted by the Leone Film Group, Variety and the Danieli Hotel, the glamorous bash brought together a mix of stars, global industry movers and shakers, including hitmaking Italian director Paolo Genovese, Los Angeles-based producer Niels Juul (“Ferrari”) and Bárbara Paz, a Brazilian actor and filmmaker.

Photo by Victor Boyko/Variety via Getty Images

“Here we go again!” said Venice Film Festival artistic director Alberto Barbera from the rooftop boasting a 180-degree view of the Venice Lagoon. “We are here once again to celebrate the pre-opening of the Venice Film Festival,” he continued, before noting that this year’s star-studded lineup is being praised as the strongest in years.

US filmmaker Debra Granik will chair the Horizons jury of the Venice Film Festival (August 28-September 7), joined by filmmakers Ali Asgari from Iran, Soudade Kaadan from Syria, Christos Nikou from Greece, Gabor Reisz from Hungary, Valia Santella from Italy and Tuva Novotny from Sweden.

The Horizons section will open with the world premiere of Valerio Mastandrea’s Nonostante, about a man whose life as a long-term patient is disrupted by the arrival of a new companion on his ward.

Mastandrea stars with Dolores Fonzi in the film produced by Viola Prestieri and Valeria Golino for Ht Film, Francesco Tato and Oscar Glioti for Damocle,...

The 81st Venice International Film Festival has selected the members of its international juries ahead of this year’s event, including Orizzonti and the ‘Luigi De Lauentiis’ Venice Award.

This year’s Festival will run August 28 to September 7.

The Orizzonti (Horizons section) jury will include:

American director and screenwriter Debra Granik (Chair)

Iranian writer, director and producer Ali Asgari

Syrian film director and screenwriter Soudade Kaadan

Greek director, screenwriter and producer Christos Nikou

Swedish actress and director Tuva Novotny

Hungarian filmmaker Gábor Reisz

Italian screenwriter and director Valia Santell

The Orizzonti Jury will award the following prizes, with no joint awards allowed:

Orizzonti Award for Best Film

Orizzonti Award for Best Director

Special Orizzonti Jury Prize

Orizzonti Award for Best Actress

Orizzonti Award for Best Actor

Orizzonti Award for Best Screenplay

Orizzonti Award for Best Short Film

The international jury of the “Luigi De Laurentiis” Venice Award (‘Lion of the...

Oscar-nominated U.S. director Debra Granik (“Winter’s Bone”) will preside over the jury of the Venice Film Festival’s Horizons (Orizzonti) section dedicated to more cutting-edge works.

Granik will be joined on the Horizons jury by Iranian writer, director and producer Ali Asgari (“Terrestrial Verses”); Syrian film director and screenwriter Soudade Kaadan (“The Day I Lost My Shadow”); Greek director, screenwriter and producer Christos Nikou (“Apples”); Swedish actress and director Tuva Novotny (“Britt-Marie Was Here”); Hungarian filmmaker Gábor Reisz (“Explanation for Everything”); and Italian screenwriter and director Valia Santella (“I Can See It in Your Eyes”).

“Winter’s Bone” won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance 2010 and was nominated for four Oscars, including best picture and best adapted Screenplay for Granik and co-writer Anne Rosellini. Her first film, “Down to the Bone,” won Granik the best director prize at Sundance in 2004. In 2015, Granik completed the feature doc “Stray Dog.” Her 2018 film,...

As our Nicholas Bell is closing out our coverage on the Lido (we’ll have plenty of more reviews), the Festival Scope folks are once again launching the Sala Web – which offers a slew of short films from Orizzonti and Out Of Competition sections from the 78th edition of the Venice International Film Festival. It’s easy to check them out – and they are pretty much available to all our readers up until the 26th. You want to click here to check out the titles listed below.

Descente (4 Am) Mehdi Fikri | 2021 | 11min (Available in Italy only)

Don’T Get Too Comfortable Shaima Al Tamimi | 2021 | 9min

Evening Prayer (Diary Of A Promenade)

Fall Of The Ibis King Josh O’Caoimh, Mikai Geronimo | 2021 | 10minGiuseppe Piccioni | 2021 | 17min (Available in Italy only)

Hair Tie, Egg, Homework Books Luo Runxiao | 2021 | 15min (Available in Italy only)

Heltzear Mikel Gurrea | 2021 | 17min

New Abnormal Sorayos Prapapan | 2021 | 15min

Sad Film...

Bárbara Paz, director of Babenco: Tell Me When I Die on Héctor Babenco and Ingmar Bergman: “They are both somehow like an orchestra conductor. They meet somewhere in that sense.”

In Babenco: Tell Me When I Die (winner of the 2019 Venezia Classici Award for Best Documentary on Cinema), Bárbara Paz’ outstanding tribute to her late husband Héctor Babenco, she inventively connects personal footage with clips from his films to create a seamless cinematic celebration that is thought-provoking and poetic. His adaptation of Manuel Puig's Kiss Of The Spider Woman, screenplay Leonard Schrader, starring Raúl Juliá, William Hurt and Sônia Braga (with clothes made by her mother), received four Oscar nominations - Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay with Hurt winning Best Actor.

William Hurt won an Oscar, BAFTA, and in Cannes for his performance in Héctor Babenco’s Kiss Of The Spider Woman

Tom Waits was in two of Babenco's films,...

“I have already lived my death — all that’s left is to make the movie.” So says celebrated Argentine-Brazilian filmmaker Héctor Babenco in a documentary that, sure enough, attempts to bring closure to a life already concluded. After three decades of living with cancer and related complications, Babenco passed away in 2016 aged 70; directed by his widow Bárbara Paz, “Babenco: Tell Me When I Die” movingly serves as both valedictory and valentine, channeling and preserving the spirit of an artist who vocally feared that his life’s work hadn’t been completed. “Tell Me When I Die” may technically be Paz’s first film rather than the eponymous director’s last, but an intimate air of collaboration colors the whole monochrome affair: As a portrait of a dying man trying to at least co-direct his own farewell, it’s so sorely tender as to be a little discomfiting.

The first documentary...

While the Academy has not yet released the full official list, these are the films Variety has learned have been submitted by various countries in the international film race. The shortlist will be announced Feb. 9 and the nominations on March 15. The Academy Awards ceremony takes place on April 25.

Albania Open Door

Director: Florenc Papas

Key Cast: Luli Bitri, Jonida Vokshi, Gulielm Radoja

Logline: Pregnant woman and her sister try to find a man to pretend to be the mom-to-be’s husband before visiting their traditional father.

Prodco: Bunker Film Plus

Algeria Héliopolis

Director: Djaâfar Gacem

Key cast: Souhila Mallem, Mehdi

Ramdani, Cesar Duminil

Logline: Algerians fight for independence punctuated by the 1945 massacre in the ancient city of Héliopolis.

Prodco: Centre Algérien de Développement du Cinéma

Argentina The Sleepwalkers

Director: Paula Hernández

Key Cast: Érica Rivas, Ornella D’elía, Marilu Marini, Daniel Hendler

Logline: A family drama encompasses the sexual awakening...

“Babenco: Tell Me When I Die” is the documentary of Babenco dying. Dying is not pleasant and initially I had a really hard time watching. By its end, however, I not only understood why Brazil submitted it to the Academy; it is in honor of Hector Babenco, one of Brazil’s most accomplished transcultural directors, but I was also moved by the genuine love he had for life and that the filmmaker Barbara Paz had for him.

Continue reading on SydneysBuzz The Blog »...

As Brazil emerges from its shoot shutdown, the magnitude of its biggest production, Netflix fiction miniseries “Senna,” about Formula One racing genius Ayrton Senna, is rapidly becoming clearer.

The series, now in development, ticks multiple boxes for both Netflix and its producer, São Paulo-based Gullane.

“Language is no longer a barrier, only ambition and quality are barriers,” Francisco Ramos, Netflix VP of Spanish-language Originals in Latin America, said as a keynote at September’s San Sebastian Festival.

“Senna” certainly has ambition. It will be “the first Netflix title from Brazil conceived from its very inception as a global series,” “Senna” producer Fabiano Gullane told Variety during Ventana Sur.

In order for a Netflix title to “be successful abroad, it first has to have an impact in its own country,” Ramos also observed.

Senna can expect to have a huge impact n Brazil. For Gullane, “Other Formula One World Champions were heroes of their sport,...

Exclusive: Smp Productions, the international sales arm of Irish production co Silver Mountain Productions, has taken worldwide rights outside of Brazil to Cibele Amaral’s second feature Why Won’t You Cry?.

The film was in official selection at the 48th Gramado Film Festival last month. It stars Bárbara Paz and Carolina Monte Rosa in the story of a troubled psychology student whose encounter with a patient forces her to confront the darkest corners of her own unexamined psyche. The film seeks to highlight universal taboos surrounding mental health and care, particularly for women.

As a train psychologist, Braziliam filmmaker Amaral says the film’s themes chime with our times. “Now, in 2020, with so many of us coming face to face with the psychological challenges thrown up by the Covid-19 pandemic, this film is more urgent than ever, shining essential light on the unspoken complexities of isolation and depression that...

The 2019 Venice International Film Festival has wrapped, and this year’s edition has announced its award winners. The Golden Lion, the festival’s top laureate, went to “Joker,” which is a strong statement from this year’s competition jury led by Lucrecia Martel. See the complete list of this year’s winners below.

In recent years, the Venice Golden Lion has gone to films that went on to have legs in the awards-season conversation stateside. Last year’s Lion went to Alfonso Cuarón’s “Roma,” which won three Academy Awards for Netflix but lost Best Picture to “Green Book.” The year prior, the Golden Lion went to Guillermo del Toro’s “The Shape of Water,” which won Best Picture at the Oscars in 2018.

In a surprise upset over Joaquin Phoenix in hot competition title “Joker” (until it carried off with the Golden Lion), Best Actor went to Luca Marinelli for...

The lineup has been unveiled for year’s edition of the Venice International Film Festival, taking place August 28 through September 7. Aside from films previously announced as coming to Tiff, some major new announcements include Olivier Assayas’ Wasp Network, James Gray’s Ad Astra, Roy Andersson’s About Endlessness, Ciro Guerra’s Waiting for the Barbarians, David Michôd’s The King, Benedict Andrews’ Kristen Stewart-led biopic Seberg, and Roman Polanski’s J’accuse. Only two films by female directors made into the competition lineup: Haifaa Al-Mansour’s The Perfect Candidate and Shannon Murphy’s Babyteeth.

Check out the lineup below (hat tip to Mubi), which also includes other sections at the festival.

Competition

The Truth (Hirokazu Kore-eda)

The Perfect Candidate (Haifaa Al-Mansour)

About Endlessness (Roy Andersson)

Wasp Network (Olivier Assayas)

Marriage Story (Noah Baumbach)

Guest of Honour (Atom Egoyan)

Ad Astra (James Gray)

A Herdade (Tiago Guedes)

Gloria Mundi (Robert Guédiguian...